Unlikely Matchups: Mosquito VS. P-38

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by Doktorwzzerd

Ha, well pilot performance being equal, the Mosquito just wasn't designed to be a fighter, she was designed as a light bomber, whereas the P-38 was intended from the beginning to be a fighter. I mean just look at them, its like proposing a dogfight between a F-111 and an F-15.

Exactly my thought. The mosquito was primarily a bomber. It was only because it was such a great plane that it could be modified to do other jobs (night fighter and invader). It was never used as a dogfighter though so it would probably lose against the P-38. The DeHaviland Hornet on the other hand WAS designed and built for the same role as the p-38 (long range fighter bomber). Based on the Mosquito but with a heavily redesigned plywood fuselage including a single seat cockpit, new wood/metal wings and four 20mm cannons. The Hornet was lighter, more manuvurable and with a top speed of almost 500mph was a lot faster than the Mosquito.

The Hornet V Lightning would be a much fairer comparison, and the Hornet would win by a large margin. Only problem is that the hornet was built in 1944 and WWII ended before the first planes could be delivered to the RAF.